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Saturday, December 31, 2016

Well, I guess I caused a few eyebrows to raise over my last post regarding rules and ruffled a few feathers. I have spent 32 years of being in business for myself and in the automotive market, companies have paid me a pretty good living for solving their problems when launching a product into a market or geographical area.

One thing I do good is listen, that is how you solve issues, sell product and get results. I have listened to everyone concerns over the past week regarding rules for pulling. Another thing I'm good at is being passionate about what I do on a daily basis. People ask all the time how do you stay in business? (most businesses fail in 4-5 yrs) It's being passionate about what you are working on and trying to accomplish.

I tell industry leaders all the time our enthusiasts are passionate about their sport because I have seen many work 2 maybe 3 jobs to afford their truck, some heat with wood they cut and split so they can afford parts for their trucks. Their passion is conveyed by me because after I speak at conferences those listening tell me I'm passionate about our sport and what we are trying to accomplish.

Many people hire me because I have had the ability to see the bigger picture or see into the future of what will happen in a marketplace or a company's direction. It's nothing special I can just evaluate people's reactions and conclude what the results or outcome will be in the future.

So after explaining all of that and listening to all parties this last week I can now see what is happening.

I have a large group with lots of money wanting everyone to (quoted), be on a fair playing field, all trucks would be the same and all trucks would be easier to tech and control. Everyone would be running the same turbo and suspension in all three classes for pulling. This large group also controls the technology and sells those parts plus they have pulling trucks competing against their own customers.

What I'm hearing is controlling the sport and industry with parts and rules.

I don't know about you folks but this sounds like the government which has tried to control farming, healthcare, banks and utilities. Our rural enthusiasts are innovative people who do not like to be controlled. I'm one of those people who do not like to be controlled and neither is my partner.

It's a free market and that is what has made this country great! I think the public just elected the next president based on this same principle.

We want diesel enthusiasts, shops and pullers to be able to come up with the next best thing whether it's a turbo, tranny or suspension that fits the basic rules but can exceed everyone's efforts for power and distance. We want the innovative mechanic to take the power and torque to the next level and progress the sport.

A progressive sport will stay in existence longer than a stagnant sport where competitors are selling their trucks on a monthly basis and numbers are dropping. I have heard for two years what has happened to the fun days of pulling when you could drive to the pull, change tires, adjust tuning and pull for the distance.

One of the biggest surge this next year will be the NEW Work Stock class that will allow high powered trucks to compete in pulling. We listen and we deliver what the enthusiast wants for the sport. We don't sell parts or service trucks so we want what is best for the sport.

Can the others with smoothbore pull in our classes, of course they can in the proper class. But why hold back the smartest kid in the class and try and make everyone equal! I think we have had enough of that in our society! I'm ready to see some diesel heads come out with killer trucks, kick some butt and progress the sport into the future.

Remember control brings anarchy and those at the top will benefit and those at the bottom will not and drop out!

DIESEL Motorsports is all about being innovative and relying on our youth to be aggressive, progressive and go for the ring (winner)! We want all trucks to compete and have fun doing it!

Thursday, December 29, 2016

We get asked this every year since so many change their rules every year in order to sell more parts for their shops. It seems to be the on going trend is to keep the enthusiasts spending more money every year on new turbos or suspensions.

What they don't realize it makes the sport overall smaller because many local pullers or racers can not afford the large purchases every season so they drop out. Why do we see so many trucks up for sale?

Since DIESEL Motorsports does not sell parts or garage services we try to keep the rules universal so all enthusiasts local or national can compete at all levels year after year in some classes and win a purse. The more local events are attended and enthusiasts can compete it will only make the regionals even larger in participation.

The Modified, 3.6 and dual turbos class will not change for 2017. Same as the 2.6/3.0 class, we did not see any reason for changes based on last year. Only request we had is if the 3.0 Smoothbore can run in a class by themselves and we reply with sure if enough of them show up (at least 8)! The 2.6 trucks won pretty much most of the time last year.

2.5 class will see some safety changes like adding driveshaft loops, shutoffs and trans blankets added for safety since they have become a trailered class. Same as the upper class, if a 2.6 smoothbore wants to run they will be allowed since it is a drop in HP. Same rules apply other wise.

Work Stock will see some significant changes since we plan on making into two classes!

We plan on making a WS/Super Street Class where enthusiasts can again drive to an event and compete in pulling with their performance street trucks. Rules are being formulated but the larger OEM like turbos will be allowed, xtrawheels, etc as long as they can plug 2.55. The rest is under review and will be available in a couple of weeks.

Work Stock will become a true OEM turbo class where only air intake, programmer, exhaust can be added for competition. This will be for OEM trucks who still want to pull but do not have to compete against the larger turbos.

Things may change a little in each class per Regional event but the rules we submit to SFI will follow what is listed above.

Remember, we want the sport of pulling to grow not diminish in size! So keep your costs low and keep on pulling!

Thursday, December 15, 2016

For those who did not get to go to the PRI Show last week I will attempt to give as much information as I can about the week. I was in Indianapolis from Tuesday through Sunday morning even though the show was Thursday through Saturday.

I came in early to get our booth setup on Tuesday with the help from a couple young diesel enthusiasts who later attended the show. That is one thing you can count on is some youth to help in hauling in over 12 big boxes of sponsor's decals and literature plus the booth banners and tables.

Wednesday was spent at the Race Track Business conference where I had the privilege of being a speaker on a panel for sanctioning bodies. This is a 5 year conference held for track owners of circle, drag and racing facilities across the US so that they can learn from people in the industry how to better market and advertise their tracks. It was very enlightening to hear from industry experts and the track owners themselves as to what challenges they face during the year. In a effort to further expand DIESEL Motorsports as a mainstream sport I explained what and who we are to the tracks, many who had never heard of the venue.

The PRI Show started Thursday with a very cold start since a front moved through during the night and it was a little slow till people got going around noon and it was like the flood gate opened. It was far busier in the afternoon with lots of diesel enthusiasts visiting our booth looking for information on future shows, rules free DM t-shirts and sponsor's decals/literature.

Diesel Motorsports had a limited supply of DM t-shirts for free and you could get them if you wore the shirts during the show and pose with the DM Girls at the booth. Plus they received DM insulated coffee mugs along with goody bags from sponsors. This definitely attracted diesel people to the booth all three days and we quickly ran out with large crowds in front of our booth many times during the show.

Friday was the largest single day attendance (60,000) in the history of the show and it showed at our booth in the main performance hall. We gave out over 150 free t-shirts and mugs/goody bags to many people and was soon out of the shirts. That didn't stop people from coming by the booth for information, decals and swag. Vendors on both sides of us thanked us for attracting so many people to our area and aisle. At times people couldn't even get down our aisle because of the people crowded around our booth posing for photos with the DM Girls and picking up items from our booth.

Saturday started busy and as the showed slowed down fell off in the late afternoon as the show closed on Saturday. In the morning was real busy and again our aisle was full when Diesel Motorsports presented our Awards for the year for Points Champion including inducting Brady Williams of Industrial Injection into the Diesel "Hall of Fame". By Saturday most of the items we had to give out was literally gone, of the 3,000 DM decals I had brought we had 25 left to give out on Saturday. The same could be said of the sponsor's decals, literature and swag by Saturday. Of the 12 cases of materials we had hauled in Tuesday we only left with one case a quarter full of materials.

Overall I can't tell you how many people came by the booth to learn about DIESEL Motorsports but it was a busy week for all of us. I did get a small chance of walking the show when I went to get more decals from a few sponsors who were there as vendors. It was people everywhere in the show and I noticed quite a few manufacturers with items for the diesel performance market. Some old but quite a few new ones with very interesting items that would enhance the performance of our diesels.

This was one of the most productive shows we have setup and attended as a vendor, with a full court press of making DIESEL Motorsports a mainstream motor sport!

About Me

I have operated as a marketing/consulting agency for over 25 years in the automotive industry while located in Kansas City, MO.
In 2007 I started the National Association of Diesel Motorsports with Gene Mohney of PA. Since then we have grown the DIESEL Motorsport's Association to 4000 members along with putting on 12 National Diesel events and over 50 affiliate events Nationwide.